


Ship of Theseus

by hubbletuff



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Character Study, Gen, I just think hes neat, Introspection, Kamukura Izuru Has Feelings, Light Angst, POV First Person, Philosophy, honestly i dont really know what this is, izuru doesnt find it sad but tbh its kind of sad, kind of?, might continue this if people like it, this is set a few days before junko comes to visit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:36:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hubbletuff/pseuds/hubbletuff
Summary: Deep underground beneath Hope's Peak Academy, a successful human experiment contemplates his own existence.
Kudos: 12





	Ship of Theseus

**Author's Note:**

> i dont usually write in first person, but i really think it's a format that lends well to izuru's perspective. i hope yall like this!

Log, Day 27:

The ship of Theseus paradox asks one that if an object has all of its components replaced but is functionally the same, is it still the same object as it was at the beginning? I think the answer is easy: no. It may look the same, it may act the same, but the object is not the same as the original. It is merely a copy.

But the more I think about it, the more I question my conclusion. I feel- and isn't that interesting, to feel?- that it is more complex than my original deduction. I do not know why I have changed my mind; it is not something I do often. I am usually right the first time. (I wonder, does that take away from the human experience? To be wrong is an experience all humans have faced a thousand times and they will never be done with it, not until their last breath. I am nearly never wrong. I suppose it does not matter; I am not entirely sure that I am human, anyway.) I am unused to this uncertainty in my own logic, but I have been thinking about the ship of Theseus often lately. It troubles me to say the least.

I've been told my name is Kamukura Izuru. This seems unlikely as that was the name of the founder of Hope's Peak Academy and I seem to be a part of an experiment conducted by that very institution. But, seeing as I do not know of any other name to call myself by, Kamukura Izuru will suffice for now.

The fact that I am part of an experiment raises a few questions. Not concerns, I am not concerned about the experiment nor my wellbeing. But I do wonder how exactly I was created. It is highly unlikely that they created me from nothing since that technology does not exist. I am not a robot as shown by numerous biological functions and the fact that I have blood. My being a clone would make sense if it were not for the fact that I appear to be around 17 years old. Through the process of elimination, the most likely case is that I have been created out of the body of another person. Although I hate to admit it, I did not come to this conclusion through entirely logical means.

The best way I can describe the feeling is like this: you are sitting in the front seat of a car. You cannot look into the rearview mirror. You cannot look anywhere but straight forward onto the road. You're driving, and you know you're driving, not because you can see or feel yourself turning the wheel but because you know it innately. You also know that there is  **someone** in the backseat. You don't know who the  **person** is or how  **they** got there. You can't turn around to look and there's no evidence of  **their** existence but somehow you are absolutely  _ certain _ that there is  **someone** in the backseat.

This may have something to do with my interest in the paradox I began this log entry with.

Whoever inhabited this body before seems to have left some of themselves behind. I will not be informing the scientists of this. I want to see where it goes. I don't care how this ends, I don't care if it kills me, I just want to  _ end this ceaseless boredom. _

I can feel, despite what may have been intended by the scientists who created me. I know I can feel. But everything is so predictable and nothing will bring my emotions to the surface. I've read literature about how it feels to be angry, to be sad, to be in love, and I want to feel something, anything. No matter what it costs, I do not want to be bored anymore.

There's more to the world than this. More than a bunker deep beneath a school, more than daily checkups and tests from doctors who see me as an object, more than an empty room housing an empty person.

Was I empty before? I find humans to be illogical and predictable, was I the same way? It does not feel entirely appropriate to say “I”. That was not me. I have simply replaced them in their own body. Despite the fact that they seemingly no longer exist, I cannot help but wonder about their identity. Given the entire experiment was about the cultivation of artificial talent, I would assume they were talentless.

My teachers have told me that the talentless are useless and beneath me. The previous inhabitant of this body likely thought this of themselves as well, if they volunteered for such an inhumane experiment. I do not think they were useless. I think they were human.

Regardless, the past is in the past. Right now I have been given work from my teachers.

The work they give me is boring and unsatisfying. It poses no challenge. I could finish it with my eyes closed, and have before as an attempt to entertain myself- it didn’t work. I can tell they are running out of tasks to occupy me with.

My routine is the same every day: wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, go back to my room, finish a puzzle, finish another puzzle, finish another puzzle, eat lunch, practice more talents over and over and over, go to the examination room to be poked and prodded for two hours, eat dinner, brush my teeth, change into pajamas, go to sleep. It is the same thing repeated a thousand times as if they think that any day now I will suddenly become the messiah they’ve been searching for. I certainly have the power for it. The only problem is that I do not care.

There are twenty people I see every day. Teachers, doctors, scientists, lab assistants, school officials. They keep a wary eye on me, like a fearful rookie policeman inspecting a bomb. It seems that they understand the power they have created. I wonder if they regret it.

They try to play mind games with me. I go along with it. If my teachers had it their way, I’d be hidden down here forever. But I will not always be compliant.

They made me patient on purpose.

I know how to lie in wait.

**Author's Note:**

> okay soooo there ya have it! i hope you enjoyed reading this! if people really like this, i might continue it. idk whether that would be more chapters or in a series, but we'll cross that bridge if/when we get to it. let it be known that if i do continue this i will probably add kamukoma just bc i really like it, think it's interesting, and you cannot stop me.
> 
> comments and kudos are always appreciated!


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